There have been rumblings for the last week that WWE was expected to make cuts to its deep roster of talent following the finalization of a merger with the UFC. That hammer finally fell on several well-known performers, including multi-time world champion Dolph Ziggler, on Thursday.
WWE merging with MMA world leader the UFC was announced earlier this year, however, there were still many legal hoops the companies had to go through before the deal could be finalized. Earlier this month the process was completed when a new parent company, TKO Group Holdings was created and officially hit the stock market.
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With all mergers, employee layoffs are a common result when major companies are combined and certain positions become redundant. Last week, a slew of executives and administrative workers for World Wrestling Entertainment saw their tenures with the company come to an end. Cuts to the promotion’s roster of wrestlers were also rumored to come soon after and that officially occurred today.
Multiple media outlets and some performers themselves revealed that at least nine veteran WWE wrestlers had been released from their contracts. That list includes 15-time champion Dolph Ziggler, tag-team specialist Shelton Benjamin, Mustafa Ali, Emma, fan-favorite Elias, Top Dolla, Rick Boogs, Madcap Moss, and Aliyah.
Outlook for Dolph Ziggler and eight other performers cut by WWE
While some WWE fans may be disappointed by several of the wrestlers that were released — especially Elias — all of the cuts made sense and were not anywhere as shocking as the pandemic layoffs that included elite stars like Bray Wyatt and Braun Strowman. Every talent cut on Thursday had not been seen on the main WWE roster in quite some time.
However, several of them have notable upsides and likely will be showing up in rival promotions in the near future. AEW is sure to sign a few of the wrestlers let go and talented cruiserweight Mustafa Ali is sure to be at the top of the list. Since his wrestling style is a perfect fit for the AEW roster.
Certainly, Dolph Ziggler will get a call from AEW owner Tony Khan. However, with the 43-year-old having created several revenue paths for himself away from wrestling, a long hiatus from the industry would not be surprising.
Real-life couple Emma and Madcap Moss would be a very good fit for Impact Wrestling, and a strong run as a heel couple could showcase them in a way the WWE did not. Elias would also be perfect for Impact and could be a top target for rock star Bill Corgan and his NWA promotion.